5th September 2015. Ive read Jerrys statement and I just dont get it, he told The Guardian. He was a lovely, sensitive, talented and unique person. Dammers was the creative genius behind The Specials, the man who gave them their idiosyncratic musical tropes and who set them apart from the likes of The Selector, The Beat or Bad Manners. He also founded 2 Tone Records. Now I was attuned to everything, including the sound of looters breaking in through the front door of our building. It felt as though everyone had been shipped out to the country, as the city shimmered with silence. Some thought this was progress, although what was rarely advertised in the Sunday Times Home section was the fact that most of these new developments were nothing less than gated communities. A well-known musician, Jerry Dammers, is a founder and keyboardist who has been active in the musical world for over four decades. The flat was right behind the Ritzy cinema, just off Coldharbour Lane, a first-floor, two-bedroomed housing association flat that backed on to a small courtyard and faced Brixtons Front Line. 'Ghost Town' wasn't a free-for-all jam session. I wanted the drums in mono on one track, the bass in mono on another and the rhythm that shuffle organ and Lynval's DI'd guitar on another. He left India at the age of 2, first living in Coventry, then moving to Sheffield at the age of 10. As I walked south, I may as well have been self-isolating, because I was completely, completely alone. Oct 18 2019. The gangs were bigger, more organised, more vicious, more resigned to living outside of society; no explanations or excuses were needed nor offered. The January 2016 issue of Uncut is now on sale in the UK featuring Paul Weller, David Bowie, Best Of 2015, Roger Waters, Father John Misty, Pere Ubu, Robert Forster, Natalie Prass, James Brown, Bruce Springsteen, Sunn O))), Jonny Greenwood, Arthur Lee & Love, Neil Young, Janis Joplin and more. Thatcher had a habit of invoking the pernicious legacy of the so-called permissive society whenever she was confronted with something she didnt understand. Jerry Dammers will be given the Order of the Companions of OR Tambo, at a ceremony in Pretoria on Sunday. Jerry Dammers has paid tribute to John Bradbury, the drummer with The Specials, who has died aged 62. Published Dec 10, 2008. We were touring, so we saw a lot of it. Terrys voice was the perfect instrument for the true and necessary songs on 'The Specials.' The shots of the band in the car were achieved by attaching a camera to the bonnet using a rubber sucker: Panter recalled that at one point the camera fell off (briefly seen in the finished video at 1:18) and scratched the car's paintwork, to the displeasure of the car's owner. Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers, musicians with the New Wave/Ska band The Specials, are shown seated behind a microphone, wearing suits. Winston Silcott, Engin Raghip and Mark Braithwaite were convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, although all three were cleared by the court of appeal in 1991 after it emerged evidence had been tampered with (Silcott remained in prison for the separate murder of another man, Tony Smith, finally being released in 2003). Recording simply in mono really helped the instruments balance themselves." That honesty is heard in so many of his songs in joy and sorrow. Ghost Town initiated a strand of spooked British pop that has lived on in Tricky and Portisheads trip-hop and the dubstep of Burial and James Blake.. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. With all the original members, too, strangely apart from the drummer, who had no doubt died in a bizarre gardening accident in what the rest of the band at the time thought was a misguided, if not completely unfunny, homage to Spinal Tap. Odd jobs were essential to supplement what you got from the government: film extra work, a spot of photography, retail conference stewarding, modelling for friends who couldnt find anyone else. To check the availability of The Specials tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/GIGS now, or call 0871 230 1094. The Specials ' singer Terry Hall has denied the claims of founding member Jerry Dammers that he was "kicked out" of the band ahead of their forthcoming reunion. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. Living in London you certainly got the feeling you were somehow living under siege. We are going to get people blaming the economy and what happened last week but thats not the real reason this happened. What many forgot about the peace process in Northern Ireland was that it was as much to do with prosperity as political and sectarian will. Subscribe to Uncut today and never miss an issue. Jun 26 2010. Everything was based on cash, as there was no other currency. But apart from that, I have no idea why Jerry isnt doing it. 20 Years of Freedom - Britons receive South African . Racial tension was high, as the Afro-Caribbean community felt victimised. The Mandalorian season three first look review: Baby Yodas back, Mae Stephens colourful funk-pop sound is transcending TikTok, Shania Twain: Im probably most proud of not giving up on my voice, Final Fantasy 16 is a lavish RPG twist on Bayonetta and its all the better for it. RICO RODRIGUEZ Deceased 4th September 2015. All of a sudden the country appeared to be spiralling into an endless cycle of violence, framing Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as the villain. [25], "17 rock-reggae crossovers that work and three that don't", "Ghost Town: The song that defined an era turns 30", "The Official Top 50 best-selling songs of 1981", The Specials: How Ghost Town defined an era, "Ghost Town - The Specials | Listen, Appearances, Song Review", "The Specials 'Ghost Town' Classic Tracks", "Ghost Town/Why?/Friday Night Saturday Morning", "The Specials' 'Ghost Town' Finds New Life Amid U.K. Lockdown", "2 Tone Records - Ghost Town - CHS TT12 17", "2 Tone Records - Ghost Town (revisited) - CHS TT30", "Specials, The / Special Productions - Ghost Town Revisited (Vinyl) at Discogs", The Irish Charts Search Results Ghost Town", A page about the single on a 2 Tone Records fansite, An interview about the song with John Collins, the producer, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ghost_Town_(The_Specials_song)&oldid=1137864343, "Ghost Dub '91" (credited to 'Special Productions'), "Ghost Dub '91 (Version)" (credited to 'Special Productions'), This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 20:58. There would be no woolly thinking in Mrs Thatchers government. He felt that there was something very, very wrong affecting the country. It was hell to be around." Photograph: Jo Wiser, ANC's glory fades as South Africa's 'born free' generation votes, 'I'm more mature than South African democracy itself', Theborn free generation: 20-year-olds in South Africa prepare for first vote video, Jerry Dammers: how I made Free Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: the triumph of the protest song. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. and The Spatial AKA Orchestra. Urban deprivation for us was a backdrop to a new world, one in which we knew we were going to have to fend for ourselves. Once and for all. I spoke to him for this article a few days ago and he is as disconcerted by the current crisis as all of us. Recently, someone asked what Terry Hall was like. This was urban decay writ large, accompanied by a kick drum and a muted horn. Jerry Dammers has hit out at the Specials reunion, claiming he's been driven out of the band. Subscribe to our mag by Mojo Staff | Posted on 20 12 2022 I was friends with Brad and the two of us shared a house some time before the Specials . Intelligent, observant and with a deadpan delivery second to none. By the end of the 1980s, those pockets of gentrification that had started to pop up around Central London would become so oversubscribed that those on the bottom rungs were pushed farther and farther out, so those previously out-of-bound areas east of the city villages that promised the sort of luxurious loft-living the young bankers in Docklands had been promised a decade before. Thank you Jerry Dammers for bringing this to the world. The look, which Dammers described as "defiant, Jamaican and hard", infiltrated all 2-Tone artwork, from sleeves to posters, T-shirts to badges. Now Dammers is being honoured in South Africa, a country that he has never visited before. Dammers said: "I was watching the news one day and they showed a football match in South Africa where the song was being played on the loudspeakers. Ghost Town, though, felt properly revolutionary, the kind of record that no one had the right to expect anymore. As news of the attack spread, so hostilities began and the police lost control of the area for two days, during which time dozens of fires were started and shops looted, photojournalist David Hodge died a few days later, after a gang of looters he was trying to photograph attacked and beat him. The looters (even though they were ostensibly rioting, all they were really doing was stealing) did actually run up to the first floor, although they immediately headed back down again as the sound of sirens approached. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Riot City. Youth unemployment was rife as the country felt the bite of Thatchers cuts and riots were erupting all over the country, riots that appeared, with eerie synchronicity, at the same time as Ghost Town. Who is Jerry Danvers? Jerry Dammers at Rock Against Racism, Leeds, in 1981. They were a gang five white men, two black who dressed well, spoke sharply and didnt look like they wanted to be messed with. It does not seem like he is in a relationship either. At the time he was also working in a stamp shop. Id felt like this before, intermittently, in the early summer of 1981, when, after days of rising tension and years of social deprivation, relations between the Metropolitan Police and the local community resulted in the Brixton riots. And its sense of melancholy spoke clearly: there was the sus laws [the informal term for the stop and search law that enabled the police to stop, search andpotentially arrest suspects], inner cities not functioning, racism dividing the working class. As they travelled around the country the band witnessed sights that summed up the depressed mood of a country gripped by recession. You've got to, you've got to. Terry Hall reacts to main songwriter's statement. He taught me so much about what a proper musician is supposed . Using just eight tracks limited Collins' recording possibilities, but as a reggae producer he decided to use the common reggae method of recording everything in mono: "As we were recording eight-track, I did go with a track plan. We havent changed that much, we still take the piss out of each other, theres an understanding that hasnt gone away. Jerry Dammers. These were domestic experiences, the kind that visitors to the UK just wouldnt understand. Founder of Two-Tone Records and core member of The Specials. [14] Panter remembered, "Everybody was stood in different parts of this huge room with their equipment, no one talking. The song was as much about the dissolution of the band as much as deindustrialisation and the toxicity of the streets. Not a well-known name to many. - Jerry Dammers/The Specials (1984) It was a simple song that packed a mighty punch, a masterstroke of music and politics, wrapped up in four glorious minutes of ska-infused beats from the pen of Jerry Dammers, of the UK group The Specials. My condolences to his family and friends. In our world, the economy was driven by nightclubs, as this was a completely cash economy. In the space of just two years, from 1979 to 1981, the original Specials managed to embody the new decades violent energies, morals and conflicts though always with an ironic and often sardonic detachment that kept the band cool as the 1980s grew increasingly hot. They were gigs, after all. Dammers, who is not touring as part of the band's 30th anniversary shows, has issued . Glastonbury, Worthy Farm. Ill get there in the end, he says. More importantly, it was heard in South Africa where it was banned but became an anthem in the fight against apartheid. The ska . Dammers was always a genuine bohemian and in a way it was no surprise to me the way his career panned out (DJing, production, forming various esoteric dance orchestras). Jerry Dammers is born Jeremy David Hounsell Dammers on 22 May 1955 in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, South India. 00073107204 15 works 00073107302 17 works. But a wicked sense of humour. They were approved. [2] Jerry Dammers attended King Henry VIII School, Coventry. [24], In 2022, it was included in the list "The story of NME in 70 (mostly) seminal songs" at number 19, for "Lacing ska and reggae with the amphetamine edge of new wave". Jungle Music (Groove Tunnel Mix) by Urang Matang (2019) 10 of the best GQ-approved first watches money can buy, Mushroom coffee is the latest obsession in the great shroom boom, How to really get rid of those forehead wrinkles, NFL star Efe Obada's fitness diary: Your mindset is everything it's your windshield, Simone Rocha is the incumbent Cool Guy brand, The 2023 GQ Food & Drink Awards shortlist, 37 clothing essentials for every mans wardrobe, The alternative guide to travelling in Europe this year, Print copies & Digital access for only 1. These were small gangs, little groups of boys who had grown up together, becoming disenfranchised together. Hand on my heart, this is what I feel is a bit sad for Jerry. Motivated by racial tension, a perception of inner city deprivation and heat, the defining factor was the ongoing war of attrition between the black community and the police. And so you started treating the place with the same disdain; what was the point of throwing an empty cigarette packet in a bin if the bin was going to be thrown through the off-licence window later in the day? Jerry Dammers is a British musician who is a founder, keyboard player and primary songwriter of the Coventry, England, based ska revival band The Specials, The Special A.K.A. Pride followed prosperity and in the summer of 2011, when opportunistic revellers attending a street party used the excuse of the riot in Tottenham a few days earlier to loot and burn a string of shops in Brixton, local residents were incensed, calling the thugs pathetic Its just an excuse for the young ones to come and rob shops. The resulting report into the riots concluded that they were due to complex political, social and economic factors that had created a disposition towards violent protest due to racial disadvantage, inner-city struggles and the attrition between the local communities and the police. We will try to find the right answer to this particular crossword clue. Lord Richard Attenborough, Director of Cry Freedom, Lord Neil Kinnock and music promoter Jerry Dammers writer of song "Free Nelson Mandela". Hearing of Brads death has been a great shock to me and it is a very sad day indeed, said Dammers in a statement. You know the brass bit is kind of jazzy, it has a dischord? I saw the reformed Specials support Blur at their gig in Hyde park in 2012 and the band looked like a bunch of fiftysomething cab drivers and sounded like the musical equivalent of a Sunday morning football match. It was clear that something was very, very wrong."[4]. It is with deep regret that we say goodbye to our great friend, the world's greatest drummer, our beloved Brad. The band announced the news of Bradburys death via Twitter earlier today [December 29, 2015]. Contrary to some of what has been reported since, Terry and I got on well in the original Specials. The week after the song was released bingo! As the streets of London go into lockdown, The Specials Ghost Town and the feverish social background against which the song was written feels more resonant than ever. Jerry Dammers will be playing a DJ set from his unrivalled collection of library music records,later in the night will be showcasing a new composition recorded by Jerry accompanying the paintings of Turner Prize-nominated Coventry artist George Shaw. It certainly didnt feel empowering, as the sensation of being alone was intensified by being in the city. In Liverpool, all the shops were shuttered up, everything was closing down We could actually see it by touring around. But it's important to remember that I did what any decent person would do in my position. Spent an afternoon listening to these without disappointment. The first I knew something was up was around five oclock in the afternoon, when I started to hear screaming, windows being smashed and the sound of accelerated running past the window. There is a suggestion that his real name was Gerald Danki but this seems unsubstantiated. Its strange times.. Ghost Town epitomised the two-tone idea that black and white can operate in the same unit and speak to the youth. They were greeted with open arms by the critics and public alike, only they werent really The Specials at all, because the most important member, Jerry Dammers, the man who invented them, who gave the band their political edge, who wrote most of their songs and who was responsible for making them truly memorable, was not encouraged to participate in the reunion (I founded The Specials and now they've excluded me, said Dammers when the band first reunited, in 2008). Jerry Dammers: How The 'Devil's Chord' Split The Specials In an exclusive MOJO interview, the architect of 2 Tone reveals how violence at the Ghost Town sessions finished off the group. "Ghost Town" is a song by the British two-tone band the Specials, released on 12 June 1981. I said he was very funny and they looked at me like I hadnt heard the question. To achieve the effect he wanted, Collins utilised a kit-built Transcendent 2000 synthesiser to create a "ghost" sound, which he used to fade in and out at the beginning and end of the track.[12][13]. (Photo by Getty Images) Album. some of the tracks have been re-eq'd /tweaked, Really really nice repro collection just a few odd errors>, Two Tone Records Vinyl Treasures 7" Boxset, Ghost Town / Why? 197952 . [9] Jo-Ann Greene of Allmusic notes the lyric "only brush[es] on the causes for this apocalyptic vision the closed down clubs, the numerous fights on the dancefloor, the spiraling unemployment, the anger building to explosive levels. "[21] The song created resentment in Coventry where residents angrily rejected the characterisation of the city as a town in decline. While she would always say that she was empowering those who had previously been beholden to the state, Thatcher was criticised most often for having no idea what to do with communities when the safety net had been withdrawn. You got to free. Dammers recalls: "Terry was given to performing with his back to the audience. The Specials ' founder Jerry Dammers has revealed to Uncut that he recorded new Specials material with original members Horace Painter and Lynval Golding in 2003. ", Elvis Costello, who produced The Specials' classic debut album, wrote, "Sad to receive the news of Terry Halls passing last night from Lynval Golding. Jerry Dammers has paid tribute to John Bradbury, the drummer with The Specials, who has died aged 62. The late summer of 1981 was a wake-up call for so many people I knew, as we had all finished college and were experiencing the inevitability of life on the dole, looking for work while juggling the day-to-day existence of a life without structure or a support network. Scroll Down and find everything about the Jerry Dammers you need to know, latest relationships update, Family and how qualified he is. "What made 2-Tone different to everything else at that time was that Jerry directed all the visuals," confirms Storey. After becoming overwhelmed with the multitude of choices available in the 24-track studio used during the recording of More Specials, Dammers had decided that he wanted to return a more basic set-up, and after a recommendation from bass player Horace Panter who was familiar with the place, the band chose the small 8-track studio in the house owned by John Rivers in Woodbine Street in Royal Leamington Spa. And it wasnt quiet, so much as mute. The 1981 riots happened just a quarter of a mile from where I lived in The Oval, while the 1985 riot happened right outside my front door. Jerry Dammers was born on 22 May 1955 in Ootacamund, India. Jerry David Hounsell Dammers was born in Ootacamund, Tamil Nadu, India in May 1955. "I never expected anything like this when I wrote the song," Dammers said. The looters concentrated on the electrical shops, on the ghetto blasters, television sets and radios. So the levels of anger were huge. Is it just me or is there a bit of distortion on the vocals on the "Too much pressure" side? Jerry Dammers attended Coventry's King Henry VIII School. In March 1981, Jerry Dammers heard the reggae song "At the Club" by actor and singer Victor Romero Evans played on Roundtable, the singles review show on BBC Radio 1. At the time, as far as music was concerned, there was nothing quite so au courant as nostalgia. [3], In the 1990s the song was featured in an episode of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted. Its quite spooky walking about at night. Cryptic, droll, a heart of gold, and he could tackle like a donkey! To escape crime and to buy bigger houses and to get their children into better schools, they fled to suburbia, specifically to the areas on the outskirts of South East London. Like all great records about social collapse, it seems to both fear and relish calamity. At 9.30pm police constable Keith Blakelock was trapped by a gang of local balaclava-clad boys, blowing whistles and ringing bells, who tried to decapitate him using knives and machetes. The plaque mentions "Ghost Town" was recorded there. Specials drummer John Bradbury dies. He also suggested the two-handed shuffle rhythm played by Dammers on the Hammond organ throughout the song. Got the feeling you were somehow living under siege song by the current crisis all! '' is a suggestion that his real name was Gerald Danki but this seems.. 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